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20
Clean Food Campaign
There has been a steady improvement in the standard of
cleanliness in food premises during the year. Applications to join
the Lambeth Clean Food Association have now reached 245 and
of these 139 have been approved as the premises comply with the
requirements of the Association. The number of Certificates issued
is 190 and the number of badges worn by employees is 324.
Swabs are taken by the sanitary inspectors at irregular intervals
of the fingers of employees who handle food in shops and restaurants
and these are examined in the laboratory for Bacillus coli of faecal
origin. The standard of cleanliness is high and nobody has been
found guilty more than once. So far of the 243 swabs taken nine
only have been found to yield a growth of faecal microbes.
Food Poisoning Outbreaks
An outbreak of food poisoning occurred in King's College Hospital
due to Salmonella typhi-murium which was isolated from the
faeces of two patients on the 6th September. On inquiry four
more persons were found to be suffering from gastro-enteritis and
later proved bacteriologically to have been infected with the same
organism. The onset of the disease in these six cases was between
September 2nd-3rd. The two nurses among these six contracted
the disease when patients in the sick bay while the three hospital
patients were in three different wards. This wide distribution,
though only involving a few of the 700 at risk, directed suspicion
to some central source of infection and the kitchen staff seemed the
most profitable line of inquiry, but there was a contraindication in
that the nurses Sick Bay is supplied mainly by a separate kitchen.
Inquiries into all cases of diarrhoea in the hospital from whatever
cause together with swabbing revealed a further 11 persons infected
with the same organism, the onset in each case being between the
6th and 12th September. The distribution of cases now affected no
less than 10 wards. Meanwhile careful inquiries were made concerning
the health of the kitchen staff with particular emphasis
upon any recent attacks of diarrhoea, and in addition they were
all swabbed.
Two of the kitchen staff engaged in the peeling of potatoes and
the preparation of vegetables were found to be excretors of typhimurium
and were immediately suspended from work. Unfortunately
their duties had also included the preparation of salads
which of course are not cooked or subjected to any form of heat
before being consumed. Cases still continued to crop up as the
result of infection transferred from those who had recovered and